Stu Harvey at #TIOawards: We need to speak honestly about our experiences with mental health

At the inaugural Industry Observer Awards last week (March 27) Cooking Vinyl’s co-Managing Director Stu Harvey took out the Top Industry Tweet of the Year award.

Harvey’s Award was chosen and presented by Jennie Sager, JAPAC Director of Content Partnerships at Twitter.

The stigma around mental health needs to be destroyed. We are all human and no one is living the life you think they are from the outside. I was diagnosed with depression years ago, I’m not embarrassed by it. We all have our personal battles and need to share, and ask for help

— Stu Harvey (@stuharvey) February 1, 2018

:: See the full list of winners here

In Harvey’s speech – beamed in via the big screens – he discussed the tragic death that inspired the tweet and took the opportunity to draw attention to the importance of removing any stigma associated with mental health.

“There’s a lot of people here tonight that are looked up to in the music community,” he said. “What we need to do is speak openly and honestly about all our experiences with mental health. We need to talk about this and remove any negativity and stigma that is associated with people acknowledging and getting support.”

Watch Stu Harvey’s acceptance speech for Top Industry Tweet of the Year below:

Watch @stuharvey‘s moving #TIOawards acceptance speech for Top Industry Tweet pic.twitter.com/EU1Ee8eDzX

— TheIndustryObserver (@theindustry_o) April 4, 2018

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.